The Irony of One Sided Obsessions
by bananafrappe
Summary: "You really shouldn't be so mean to him, though. He just wants his family back; you can't really blame him for that. We would all be a little coarse if it meant getting back what we have lost," Naruto reasoned, sliding his hands into the pockets of his pajama pants, and I lowered my eyes. I didn't like feeling sorry for Sasuke… it would make living with him that much harder.
1. Prologue: The Meaning of Life

The Irony of One-Sided Obsessions

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><p><em>Aaaannnddd… here I am again. Yeah, I'm being bad. Sorry, I lost my muse all of a sudden and I was like crap. Now what? So I'm working on a couple of small projects until it comes back. This is the prologue to a lengthy romancehumor story I've had sitting around for a while and never got around to writing. Kind of short, but it's a prologue. It's supposed to be short. This one is gonna be, surprisingly, SasuSaku (I know. Weird, right?), and naturally be rated M. It's mostly for language and mentions of inappropriate acts, but later on I expect lemony goodness and all kinds of stuff. Don't worry guys; I won't be ripping on Sasuke the whole time. Sakura just isn't very happy with him right now, and it's from her perspective. It'll get better._

_Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Naruto, or the random 1984 allusion. I'm just a writer too fail to make up my own characters._

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><p>Prologue: The Meaning of Life<p>

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><p>There is one thing that links all living organisms together. One act that holds a universal interest. One single phenomenon that <em>every<em> creature, and I do mean every, on the face of the planet wants in life. It is everything that they aspire to in their existence. It causes wars, unites nations, breaks hearts, claims countless lives, and raises one to the level of a god.

I know what you're thinking… love, right?

That mythical feeling of completion, that warm fuzzy feeling you get in the arms of your beloved… nope. While it is true that many strive for this at some point in their existence, and just as many are often doomed to fail in its finding, you would most definitely be wrong in your assumption. Love is a mere by-product of life's greatest aspiration. What is the answer then? Well, since you asked so nicely… I'll tell you.

Sex.

Yes, I know. I'm sure you are scandalized.

"What? Life is so _not_ all about sex."

Actually, it is. Not necessarily from society's standpoint, sure; any of your leaders will lead you to believe there are more important things than shagging. Unfortunately for them, we are the only species that possesses any opinion on _not_ doing the dirty.

Take it from any animal during breeding season; an animal's lifespan is just long enough to promote healthy sexual reproduction, the time taken to raise its offspring into maturity, and wash, rinse, repeat a few times before they die. Down to our DNA, humans are just animals. Why, then, is sex such a taboo?

Because, in reality, it's not.

Truthfully, the world's axis spins on this one action. Besides people with hormonal imbalances and weirdo religious nuts, there has never been anyone that said, truthfully mind you, that they _never_ want to have sex. Why? Its instinct, its pleasure, and it is _everywhere_. No matter where you go (besides Antarctica), why you're going there, or what you do while you are there, it will find you. Like Big Brother. Ugh… creepy.

Anyway.

Not only will it track you down like a bounty hunter, it will tear you apart until it finds your weak point, your secret ambitions or greatest desires, and make them all about sex. Whether you want power, pleasure, children, fame, money, glory, or just plain getting laid, it can all be found through screwing.

I can see that you are skeptical.

"How should you know all of this? You're just a pink haired nobody from a secret village that isn't really a secret. Why haven't you taken over the world with this knowledge by now, if it's true?"

It's alright… you don't have to take my word for it. Why should you believe me? I'm just a medic. Besides, I have other's opinions on the subject, just for reference.

If you were to ask the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan (should you be so inclined to speak with such a bastard and not simply laugh out loud at how fucking pathetic he is and walk away to live your life more fully) about his reason for wanting to have sex, he would, after deeply considering whether or not he should kill you for asking, tell you, without a hint of remorse or conscience, that it was a means to an end, nothing more.

As the last of his unbelievably important bloodline, it was his sworn duty to create as many children as he could so his family name could continue and live on to wreck even more havoc on the world than they already had, and sex was really the only way he could do that.

After several more seconds of obviously straining thought processes, he would allow an exception to his former comment by saying, with a wry and cocky smirk on his shiteating face, that he did, however, know the value of pleasure, and that while the same release could be found on the field of battle… there were not always wars to be fought (god, I think he's the only one that misses the ninja wars).

He would shrug after saying that, flicking a piece of imaginary dust from the sleeve of his new clan leader robe, and finish by bolding stating that sometimes, even pussy ass ninja bastards like him need to get a good, meaningless fuck in here and there. They have hormones too, after all.

He would then glare at you antagonistically for wasting his precious time and go on his way to annoy whoever it was that he was on his way to see.

As I'm sure you noticed, I may have paraphrased his actual responses a little, and perhaps added a little embellishment… but you can't honestly tell me that you care. Only so many can stand to listen to Sasuke Uchiha's loathsome blather, and I trust that you are not among the honored and pitied three, so I spared you the agony of the wasted words.

And yes, you can tell him what I said. I hope he actually grows a pair and confronts me about it for once.

Wait, you still seem a little doubtful. You mean that _that_ wasn't _convincing_? I'm not surprised. In any case, I do have another excellent example of my point, and I'm afraid that I am going to have to once again paraphrase.

The warning is in advance this time for a reason.

Should you ever be so desperate and friendless to want to, you could go to Karin Uchiha, the victorious wife of our favorite traitor, and ask her why she wants sex. For her, the question is a no brainer (literally); she's in it for the money and the fame.

I'm sure I don't need to explain why she's so upfront about her reasoning… whenever you find her, she will probably be drunk off her ass and completely sure that Sasuke is nowhere near, so he won't hear her. Sure, her husband is hot, but what woman really wants to put up with Mr. Oh-My-God-I-Need-A-Million-Fucking-Kids-Like-Right-Now? She has all the shopping money she needs, she's famous by association because of her husband's miraculous gaining of a conscience following his brother's death, and all she had to do is let her man screw her every night. No problem.

She will say, on a side note as she tries not to fall off of her bar stool, that even though she's a heartless bitch and cares little for anything besides herself, the sex with her husband is the best she's ever had.

Yeah… right. I bet Sasuke told her to say that.

Eh… maybe that wasn't really the best example I could have given you, but you seem a little more convinced so I'm gonna leave it at that.

Sorry, Kiba, no interviews today. No one wants to know why _you_ want sex.

Heh, heh, heh… nah, that's just mean. I only really had one more example I could give, but that's just my reasoning. You don't want to know mine. It's… complicated.

"Wait, so you get to rip the crap out of Sasuke and badmouth Karin, but _you_ don't have to testify? Screw that shit; spill."

…damn you.

Me? Well… I suppose it's just for the heck of it. Of course I want kids later, and I like to think that the love that I feel for my boyfriend is real and not just fabricated emotions produced by sex hormones… but that was all it was. _Then_, anyway…

"Oh, boo hoo. Get over yourself."

Hey, I heard that! Shut up! How was I supposed to know that the two aforementioned idiots would mess even that up for me? If they had kept their business to themselves… if they hadn't been so fucking messed up… but no, they had to draw me into it to, and then… that's when the meaning of sex changed for me. But this story isn't really about my opinion on why everything happened the way that it did. I'm sure you don't care about that.

"Yeah, not really. So shut up and get on with it."

Alright, alright… God…

No, this is the story of not how my views changed, or how the bastard that I've somehow never managed to forget wormed his way back into my life… this is the story of how irony works in mysterious ways. This is about lies, romance, mistrust, cruelty, love, confusion, lust, hate, and most of all… naturally and unfortunately…

Sex.

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><p><em>Ta-da! Eh? Eh? Whatcha think? Yeah, it's not that great, and it doesn't have much explanation of what is to come, but… oh, just wait. I've got some crazy good ideas for this. You'll like it, I swear. Leave me a review! I don't want to write things if I don't get told things about… things! If that makes sense.<em>


	2. When Bastards Attack

_I am impressed. This got more positive feedback than I had thought that it would. As such, I'm gonna go ahead and post the first chapter (cuz I already had it written anyway). Alright, the rating is still being earned prodigiously as an M, the foul language and inappropriate commentary making up for the lack of lemons at this point. Don't worry, friends… if you review, it will come. XD I love movie quotes. Anyway. On we go._

_Disclaimer: I'm getting really tired of explaining how much I don't own Naruto. So no. Now go read._

_Special thanks: Saphira113, you rock my world. Just saying._

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><p>Chapter One: When Bastards Attack<p>

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><p>"<em>Thank you for allowing your consent to being part of the Invitro Fertilization Program being instituted in Konoha. We would like, before proceeding to the detailed information set down by the proprietor of your contract, to establish exactly how much you will be helping your homeland to proceed on to a brighter future with your compliance. As was explained to you at the fertility testing center you were examined at, fertile females in the ninja class of society are few and far between. Your contribution to the community will bring honor to your family and, of course, you will be generously compensated for your troubles. The prominent clans of…"<em>

Dear god… when was it going to end?

Annoyed by the useless blather I was supposed to be reading carefully, I slouched in my chair and flipped the top page of the apparent contract over, thereafter continuing past that with growing irritation. Honor, honor, honor… duty, duty, duty… rules, rules, rules… BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.

Furious at the circumstances and breathing heavily, I slammed the slightly crumpled, very thick pack of papers onto the top of my mentor's desk, thereafter leveling a glare at the slumped over form of my teacher.

"This is bullshit, Tsunade-shishou. You can't honestly tell me that I _have_ to do this. There's no way this is legal," I complained, and she raised her head just enough to return my glare blearily as she reached for the pitcher of sake on the corner of the desk, tipping some into the glass nestled in her palm.

"This is as serious as hell, Sakura. Besides, it's your own damn fault for being so fucking fertile. Last week, right before all the testing started happening, the elders passed a new law: due to the declining number of children with shinobi potential in the community, any unmarried ninja female with a high level of skill and a conceivable rate of child birthing success immediately be drafted into the IFP. Unfortunately for you, you fit both categories so fucking well that they recruited you immediately. You should have thrown the test, girl… cuz you're screwed now."

My teacher chuckled humorlessly following her explanation before throwing back the whole cup of sake and dropping her forehead back onto the desk with a loud slam. I sighed, fingering the edge of my forced contract as I let out the air in my lungs slowly in an attempt to calm myself.

When I, and every other unmarried kunoichi in Konoha, had been forced to be checked for fertility, I had been less worried than I apparently should have been. How the hell was I supposed to know what they were looking for? The abrupt summons to the Hokage's office this morning hadn't been as alarming as it should have been, either; I had imagined, at the ungodly hour of seven thirty, that Tsunade had merely forgotten to do some sort of incredibly important paperwork and needed help finishing it.

Instead of my expectations being met, I was instead, upon my arrival to her office, greeted by an already piss drunk teacher, an abnormally gruff command to sit, and a confidential medical folder with my name on it. The documents inside informed me, that with my ninety-seven percent chance of child birthing success, my achievements as a ninja of the village, and my marital status, I was obligated to contribute the services of my body to one of the prominent clans of my home. I didn't have a choice in the matter.

It was my duty as a kunoichi.

My attempts at trying to calm down completely and utterly unsuccessful, I glared up at the ceiling above me and clenched my fist, working my jaw and forcing the hated words of acquiescence from my lips.

"So… this _contract_… this is the only one I have to fill? After this, I'm done?" I asked forcefully, glancing back down at my shishou, and she didn't move an inch, a disgruntled moan echoing from where her head was resting in a crater in the wood she lay on.

"Yes… but it's more complicated than just that. As soon as you sign that paper, your life belongs to the man you will be providing with an heir. You have to do everything it says, to the letter, and in the case of this particular contract, jutsu have been written into some of the words. Make sure you read it carefully, and when…", she tried to warn me, but was interrupted by the packet of papers flopping onto the desk beside her, looking up and at the words scrawled across the dotted lines that I had just written with a noncommittal flourish.

"Sakura… did you even look at it?" she sighed in resignation, picking up the contract and squinting at my signature as if she were imagining that it was there, and I shrugged uncaringly, sliding the pen I had just used behind my ear.

"A little; enough to know that this is stupid and that I want it over as soon as possible. Does it really matter? They explain the procedure, outline the proper care that I need to use and the foods I need to avoid, and disclose the risks. I already know all of that. The rules the father wrote don't concern me, I'm sure that they're nothing too bad," I said blandly before jumping slightly, Tsunade having slammed her fist down on the surface of the desk and making the already weak surface creak ominously.

"Damn it, Sakura! You never learn! You should never underestimate the lengths a desperate man will go to when he is determined to get what he wants, and the clan leader that requested _you_ specifically after discovering your potential laid down extremely strict guidelines! He is taking no chances that this will fail; you aren't allowed to work during the pregnancy, you have to eat exactly what he wants you to, you have to, literally, obey his every command!" she shouted, and dread built in my stomach. If she was abbreviating on _those_ rules, there must be many more… and they must go on to an unimaginable level of detail.

Shit.

"Can you tell me which clan leader it is?" I asked, feeling small and like I just inevitably screwed myself, and my tutor sighed, rubbing at her temples with her forefingers.

"He refused to put his name in the contract so that you wouldn't completely flip out when you saw it. He has your reactions down to a tee, apparently… but he did arrange this meeting to go over the finer points with you, so he should be here any minute and you can yell at…"

A sudden shout resounded from beyond the closed door, interrupting Tsunade, and both of the women in the office turned to look at the back of the door in surprised confusion as, apparently, a very incensed man and a silent companion approached it.

"…test, and when you finally take the fucking thing, I find out that you have zero fucking percent of a chance of giving me any children, much less a son! The only reason that I even married you instead of insisting on her from the beginning was because you said that you could give me what I needed. You swore on the heavens that you would be able to give me healthy children when you _knew _that you were as barren as a fucking brick! So yes, I did sign up for this without consulting you. You have no business caring about me continuing my family name, since you are no part of it, and I really don't fucking understand why you care so much. Is it because it's her? Are you afraid I'll do the impossible, somehow talk the elders into giving me a divorce from you, and then replace you with her? Don't worry, Karin… you've secured your place as my wife by a flaw in this society's structure. Now you are to stay out of this, keep your fucking mouth shut, and be happy with the fact that I can't kick you out onto the streets where you belong, you stupid fucking bitch."

A chill ran down my spine as I, unfortunately, recognized the cold, deep, and very angry voice quickly approaching the door; Sasuke Uchiha, my former teammate and obsession, was walking down the hallway with, apparently, his new bride Karin.

In the midst of the last great ninja war, Sasuke had been abruptly and entirely changed, making a complete turnaround after discovering the truth about his brother, Itachi; grief stricken by the loss of a person who had loved him enough to give up everything for him, Sasuke had honored Itachi's wishes and ideals and had begun to work alongside Konoha, aiding them in repelling the Akatsuki attack on the city and thwarting a plan that would have ended in catastrophe.

He then took it upon himself to track down and end the life of an older member of his clan, Obito Uchiha, who turned out to be responsible for not only the organization of the Akatsuki and the slaughter of the Uchiha clan, but also for the war itself, and had defeated him in a battle that still scarred several acres outside the gates of the city, and would for some time to come.

Sasuke had been welcomed home as a hero, his crimes had been excused for his actions, and he had been reinstated as a full member of the society he had abandoned for a cause that never should have been pursued. After the rooting out of the traitor members of the elder council that had started it all, he had agreed to resume his place among the ninja sector as well and had since achieved the status of ANBU captain along with his default title of Uchiha clan head.

Several months after he had settled into the destroyed and derelict Uchiha compound, he had wedded the only female member of the team he had traveled with for so long, titled Hebi if I remember correctly, and truthfully…

I hadn't cared.

Long before his regaining of a conscience, I had overcome my feelings for someone who would try to kill me and had never given me anything but cruel reprimands and brush offs. Frustrated with his constant denial of me and my pure feelings, I had turned to a man that had always been the one to admire me and want my attention and beg for my regard and had, at long last, accepted Naruto's offer of a date, going to Ichiriku with him and eating ramen and talking and laughing for hours.

I had never seen him as happy as I had when I told him yes (consequentially, I wouldn't again until Sasuke returned and struck up the friendship they had once had), and even though he was worried about Sasuke and the war, and I was depressed over what I was doing (going out with someone to try to forget someone else), I cannot describe the feeling it gave me to finally be appreciated by someone for more than just my chakra control, my skills as a medic, and my monstrous strength.

Compared to the scorn and betrayal and _hurt_ I had suffered at Sasuke's hands… who was I to turn down a chance at reciprocated love?

After that date, I had devoted myself to Naruto and the way that I felt with him, giving my heart (what was left of it, at least) to him and glorying in the fact that he accepted it gladly.

Naruto was everything to me now, he, Kakashi-sensei, Sai, and Tsunade-shishou the only ones there for me when my parents had been taken by pneumonia and when I had almost died at the Pein's hands in the battle defending my home… he was my closest friend now, my partner in crime, my _lover_, and I would never forget everything that he had done for me.

He still got upset when I wouldn't go with him to train when Sasuke was going to be there, and we had fought over letting Sasuke come to dinner more than once (I always won, in the end; I had no desire to let the bastard know that he had been replaced in my heart, even though I should have been shoving it in his face), but he was everything I wanted in a man, and what we shared didn't make me miss the emotionless, stoic, cold hearted Uchiha bastard in the least.

I rolled my eyes as the sounds of approach neared, settling back into my seat with a long suffering sigh. What the hell did he want? The door burst open a second later, without any announcement or preamble, and my ex-teammate stormed in ("Thanks for knocking, please come in and continue to make a shitload of noise. It's not like anyone in here has a hangover," my mentor mumbled into her cup, and I smiled over at her with silent laughter shaking my shoulders), obviously enraged from the frown marring his face and the fact that his Sharingan was activated enraged, and his wife entered after him, looking about as hung over as my teacher and distinctly ruffled by Sasuke's treatment of her.

I looked over my shoulder at the glowering man and shot him an unsympathetic smirk.

"Long time no see, Uchiha. Trouble in paradise?" I asked sardonically, and he glared at me, his lip curling, before pointing to a chair in the corner, which his wife immediately moved to sit in, and sat in the chair beside me heavily.

"I don't see what concern it is of yours," he barked, avoiding looking at me by focusing on his knees, and I shrugged, inspecting my nails.

"Well, when you come bursting in on someone else's private meeting and don't explain the reason, I think the person being interrupted has good reason to question what is happening. But I suppose you wouldn't know anything about that, would you? Killing first and asking questions after is more your style, especially when dealing with former comrades."

His shoulders tensed in response to the poignant jibe, and he turned to me fully, his Sharingan deactivated now but seemingly itching to flare up again.

"Is there a reason that you're being a bitch today, or is that your default setting? I guess that since you aren't bipolar anymore, you have to make up for it by being your other self all the time," he sneered, raising an eyebrow as if questioning my sanity, and my temper flew out of hand.

"You fucking asshole!" I shouted, shooting out of my seat and pounding a fist completely through one of the corners of my teacher's desk. "You have no right to preach to me, Mr. I'm-A-Traitor-But-I-Changed-My-Mind-And-Came-Crawling-Back-When-It-Got-Too-Hard!"

He didn't go off the chain like I expected him to; in fact, he merely looked me up and down appraisingly before folding his arms behind his head and smiling nastily.

"Well… it looks like your temper isn't the only thing that's still short around here," he commented snarkily, not even bothering to stand to accept my challenge, and I bristled before forcing clam over myself, sending him a sarcastic smile and glancing down at the crotch of his pants meaningfully, absolutely sure that he wouldn't miss the movement.

"You would know _all_ about that, wouldn't you, Uchiha?" I sniped, and his reaction made his insults all worth it; his whole body instantly tensed, his easy smirk becoming a snarl and his conceited gaze hardening and narrowing.

Standing slowly, he took one step and closed the distance between us seamlessly, towering over me half a foot and glaring with his whole being.

"Don't play with fire, Sakura… I command it better than you, and you'll get burned," he rumbled quietly, leaning over me domineeringly, and I grinned up at him fearlessly, hands on my hips.

"Compensation doesn't make your _problem_ any better. It just makes it more obvious," I chided bitingly, and was answered with a growl before inspiration flashed across Sasuke's eyes, a confident and alluring grin lifting his lips from their earlier grimace.

"Since you're so interested in my _problem_… why don't I correct your assumption?" he offered with a sultry purr to his voice, sliding a step closer to me suggestively, and even though I knew that he was just trying to get a rise from me, even though I knew he would never honestly think of doing as he was suggesting, I still took a hasty step back from him, sneering in disgust and shuddering.

"Urg… that's okay. I'll just take your word for it," I choked out, and while it had been his intention to get me to back off, he still looked offended, his eyebrows furrowing and his head drawing back as if he had just gotten slapped. Seemingly unable to come up with a response to that, he turned away and reseated himself, gesturing to my chair passively.

"Arguing over past offenses will get us nowhere, and we have much to discuss. If you would, Sakura, then we can get started and get out of here with some amount of daylight left," he said evenly, and I scoffed at him before realizing what he had said, what it meant, and why he, of all people, was here.

Oh _hell_ no.

"_Him_?" I screeched shrilly, pointing at Sasuke and looking with shock at my mentor, who covered her ears at my tone and moaned quietly about train whistles. "This is the clan leader that requested me specifically? I have to have _his_ kid?" I demanded, and I was answered by all of them looking at me as if I were a dolt.

One of them was more annoying and antagonistic about it though; Sasuke was fucking smirking at me. Seemingly unable to contain his amusement over my protests, he put a hand to his face in faux shock.

"And here I was thinking that you would jump at the chance to have my children, Sakura… you were so dedicated to it only six years ago, after all," he said sardonically, and I instantly stalked over to show him how much I didn't appreciate his sense of humor and how much I _didn't_ want any part of him even near me, but Tsunade put a stop to it. She stood up quickly, leaned across the desk, and grabbed ahold of my fist, giving me a warning and significant look.

"You _really_ don't want to do that, Sakura. Now sit down and shut up."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he watched the awkward exchange, tilting his head to the side consideringly, but said nothing as I tugged my fist from my teacher's grasp, sitting back down with a huff and looking determinately out the window at my left. Sasuke seemed content with this, and Tsunade resumed her seat as well as she could without comment, but the woman in the corner who had said nothing so far had something to say about my reaction.

"Well, who's the hypocrite now, pinky? You should be grateful that my husband is giving you the chance to bear the offspring of the Uchiha clan, you ungrateful bitch," she said as she got up and walked across the room to, apparently, show me that I was completely in the wrong by slapping me across the face, if I could take anything from her raised hand and determined expression.

I was about to get up, grab her stupid ass, and throw her out the window, but Sasuke beat me to it. My sight was suddenly blocked by his body as he shot up from his chair and stopped his wife from slapping me by grabbing her arm and bending it backwards, giving her a look so dangerous that I'm surprised she didn't curl into flames.

"One more step and you will regret ever thinking that you were better than her. I already told you that you have no opinion in this, and I don't want to hear another word from you today. Now go sit your ass down and shut the fuck up. You are not to insult the mother of my heir ever again," he demanded, sending her scrambling to return to her seat, and I would have been a little impressed by his defense of me if it hadn't been for one little thing he had said…

Like _hell_ would I _ever_ have _his_ kids.

"'_Mother of your heir_?'" I quoted darkly, standing up and poking him in the chest when he turned around at the sound of my voice. A spark jumped up my arm where I touched him, making me pull away from him, but I just dismissed it as static and didn't give it a second thought. "I'm gonna have to call shenanigans, Uchiha. There is no way that you can honestly think that I will agree to this."

He looked unimpressed by my assurances, folding his arms and looking down his nose at me.

"You don't have a choice. The elders…" he started to say, sounding like he knew everything and was proud of it, but I cut him off.

"I don't give a shit what the elders said. I'm not going to do it, and that is FINAL!" I shouted, stamping my foot despite trying to keep from doing that (it was a bad habit, alright?).

I wish that my defiance had had a little more effect than it did, since I still stood by my opinion, but the fact that I was suddenly hit so hard upside the head that I fell to the ground stole all impact that it might have had.

Vision hazy and head swimming, I sat up and shook my head to clear my eyes, holding my forehead and wincing as it throbbed.

"What the _fuck_ just happened?" I asked, swaying slightly due to the blinding pain behind my eyes, and Sasuke grinned widely, looking like he had won the lottery.

"It would appear that you have already agreed to my terms, Sakura. Putting up a fight is useless," he said smugly before extending a hand to help me up. I shoved it to the side roughly and stood up myself, though, thereafter turning to my mentor, who was holding her face in her hand and shaking her head like I had just done something stupid.

"Shishou, what is this idiot talking about? Agreed to what?" I questioned with my eyes closed, the pain of holding them open at the moment too much, and I heard her snort irately.

"You're too much like me for your own good, girl. You just couldn't manage to be civil for five minutes, could you? I could have negotiated the contract down a little while he didn't know that you signed it without reading it, but now he does, and you're stuck. Good going." She snapped, and I opened my eyes to watch her drink straight from her sake bottle this time, obviously stressed out by the entire operation.

I was still confused, however; I had just been knocked to the floor without provocation or warning by something I hadn't even seen, and I wanted to know why and what it had to do with this stupid fucking contract.

"What do you mean, negotiate? And why does it feel like I just got bitch slapped by a mountain?" I insisted, scrunching up my nose as I tried to think about how any of this was even possible, but didn't get the answer I wanted or was hoping for; Sasuke stepped forward to answer this time, smiling at me in what suddenly seemed like a predatorial manner.

"What you just felt is one of the jutsu I wrote into the contract. If you tell me no, disobey one of my commands, or do anything to endanger the baby, your equilibrium will be impaired for a short time, resulting in your brain short circuiting harmlessly and making you think that you've been hurt. I knew that you were… willful, to put it politely, when I picked you out, so I had to ensure you wouldn't try anything dangerous or detrimental to the success of your pregnancy and that my requests wouldn't be met with resistance. I should have seen that you had already signed it when you poked me earlier, actually; you got shocked, didn't you? Any hostile moves towards my person will result in a completely harmless, but very painful attack on your nervous system, the degree varying depending on the damage caused. I can see why Hokage-sama stopped you from punching me earlier… I'm sure the pain would have been excruciating," he explained, leaning on the broken corner of the desk, and I hurriedly sat back down so I wouldn't take my chances with the punishment and hit him in his shiteating little face.

Ignoring the highly pleased man beside me, I turned my attention back to my mentor.

"You must be able to do something about this, shishou. He can't just make my body hurt itself every time I don't listen to what he says. That could hurt the baby!" I protested, not really caring about the metaphorical offspring I was protecting but more hoping that this would somehow nullify the contract due to health risks, but the way that Tsunade looked back at me made the hope rising in me fade.

"I wish there were something I could do. Unfortunately, the way that Sasuke worded the contract prohibits it being changed after it has been acknowledged signed by the proprietor. I was going to try to talk the bastard down a little bit before revealing that you're an idiot, but he knows now. And it's pointless to try to raise any health questions about this; you know as well as I do that none of the systems that Sasuke has tampered with on you will affect the growth of a healthy child. He knew well enough to avoid that chance," she explained before lying back down on the desk, and I was speechless.

How the hell had this happened? I had woken up this morning thinking it would be a good day, that I might be able to heal someone at the hospital and train with my boyfriend, a psychotic painter that has a vendetta out for me for taking his ass to town last week, and my lazy as hell sensei, but here I was getting roped into having Sasuke fucking Uchiha's child, being forced to do exactly what he said, and being stripped of everything I love doing.

This was bullshit.

The only one who seemed to be happy in the room at that moment was Sasuke. His smugness radiated off of him as he sauntered back to sit down in his chair beside me, looking over my conflicted expression with a smirk.

"Well," he began, dusting off one of his sleeves needlessly and regaining everyone's attentions from their individual thoughts. "I must say that I am pleased with how well this is going so far. I expected to be in here all day with you ladies, arguing over fine points and accepting what I could get… but five minutes in my contract is signed, Sakura already knows better than to cross me, and my wife has been set straight as to her place. All that's left… is the payment, I suppose."

I turned to look at him condescendingly as he grinned lazily, propping his chin up on his hand and tapping a finger against it.

"So what's it going to be, Sakura? How much is it going to cost me to get a kid out of you? I am willing to pay handsomely, though it would have been much easier to do this the free way… unfortunately, the elders looked down on the idea of giving me a needless annulment or letting me have two wives," he lamented, and I glared at him hatefully for even daring to let slip that he had tried to ask the village leaders for my hand in marriage.

Oh, he was going to pay through the nose for that one… literally.

Clenching my jaw, I spit out the most ridiculous amount that I could think of, hoping to make that smirk fade a little in the process.

"A million yen. No less."

Tsunade's head shot up to stare at me like I was crazy, Karin gasped in the corner, and even I, for a moment, was amazed by my own daring. A million yen… that was more than I made in a year. There was no way he would agree to it, but I had wanted to make some sort of impression.

Boldly standing by my stupidly ridiculous sum, I ignored the other two people in the room and looked straight at Sasuke determinately, waiting for his response. He remained unmoved for exactly two seconds before that damnable smirk returned.

"Done," he said quickly, and I sat back in shock.

"Really? But… that's a fuckload of money for one kid, Uchiha," I said slowly, and he shrugged, folding one leg across the other.

"I was willing to go up to ten, but you fell short of my expectations, no pun intended. Your loss, I suppose, but I shouldn't have expected you to go any higher. You always were useless at negotiating," he reminded me significantly, looking at me staidly like there was some hidden meaning in his words, but I wasn't going to hang around to figure out what it was.

I needed to get out of here before I put the asshole through a wall... even though I wanted to, my head still hurt, and I didn't want to push my luck.

Standing quickly and putting the chair I had been sitting in between me and him, I smiled tightly.

"I think that were done here. Good day, shishou…" I muttered, sinking into a respectful bow, and then realized that I would be forced to recognize Sasuke too. He was a clan leader, and ignoring formality around him could get me reprimanded severely even if he didn't protest the rudeness.

As such, I gritted my teeth, turned to him, and bowed so minutely that I'm sure anyone without the Sharingan would have missed it.

"Good day… Uchiha-san," I growled resentfully and then turned hastily to run out the door, slamming it and hurrying my footsteps before any of them could react to my departure. I was hoping to get far enough away that none of them could follow me and ask any of the questions that they must surely still have, because I was _so_ shot of this shit.

And damn, did I almost make it, too.

Just at the head of the stairway I was caught by the arm and roughly turned around, the firm grip and annoying tendency to think that everyone worships the ground that they walk on assuring me that Sasuke had been the most offended by my abrupt departure.

"Where do you think you're going? We still have things to discuss," he demanded, and I clenched my jaw before trying to tug my arm from his grip, avoiding his gaze so I wouldn't have to see his reaction to what I was about to admit.

"I'm going home. Someone has to tell Naruto that I'm going to be having a kid that isn't his, and I would rather it be me and not you he finds it out from. You'd probably fuck it up and make him think I'm sleeping with you," I said, and Sasuke froze.

"What are you talking about? Why would he care, besides still having that annoying as hell crush on you?" he queried insistently, dragging me closer, and I glared up at him from the corner of my eye and waited for his mind to catch up with his mouth. It did a second later, and he balked visibly, flinching back and wrinkling his nose. "You're fucking the _dobe_? Since when? And dear god, _why_?"

He sounded so horrified that I wanted to laugh and kick him through the wall at the same time, but merely sneered at him instead, still trying to rip my arm from his strong grip.

"I have no obligation to tell you that. Lots of things have changed since you betrayed us all and left, Uchiha… and most of them are none of your business. Now let me go; I have some explaining to do to my boyfriend. I hope he kicks your ass back to Oto for me. It's where you belong," I spat hatefully, more emotions than I wanted to reveal rising to the surface, and he flinched again, looking away from me for a long moment.

There was something in his gaze as he stared at the wall, something so sad and defeatist and… regretful, that I almost felt bad for him. My heart ached all of a sudden as I looked at him, a feeling that I hadn't felt in a very long time, not since I had begged him to stay, the night I had told him I would do anything for him… and I didn't like the fact that it had resurfaced.

Was I still in love with him? No. I was not. Did my heart want to be, though? …I think that it did.

Determined to push such contemplations back to the place where I had buried them the past few years, I tugged against his hand again, and this broke him from his silent musings. Obviously unhappy with what I had said to him, he turned back to me not with anger as I had expected, but a cruel smile that scared the shit out of me.

"Very well…" he muttered, pulling me a staggering step closer to his body as he did so, and I stared up at him with wide eyes. What the hell was he doing? "But we are meeting for the procedure in a month's time, and as soon as it is finished I expect you to begin moving your belongings to my home. I will show you your room when you arrive."

I blinked at him stupidly for a few moments before leering and trying to pull away again, giving him a look that clearly told him that I thought he was an idiot.

"Why would I do that? I live with Naruto, and I have no desire to be anywhere near your house, your charming wife, and most especially _you_," I spit out, and while his eyes narrowed and his smile quavered for a moment at this, he stood unmoved and unrepentant of his statement.

"Oh, didn't you know? It's in the contract that you signed…" he crooned, his voice and eyes unfairly attractive at that moment, and I rolled my eyes, averting them afterwards to where he was restraining me, focusing on his fingers instead.

"Cut the crap, Uchiha. If you've got a point, make it. We both know that I didn't read the damn contract," I snapped, and he snorted.

"Be that as it may, you are still obligated to know your duties. I will expect you to read it at some point; constantly reminding you of what I demand will get bothersome and might result in what some might consider cruel repercussions. In any case, I stipulated that you remain where I can keep a close eye on you and your pregnancy alike, and I deemed that keeping you as close at hand as possible would be most prudent. As such, you will be living with me while the contract holds true," he explained matter of factly, condescending and irritating all in one.

Eyebrow twitching in my irritation, I smiled at his arm sarcastically.

"Alright, whatever. Can I go now?"

I felt more than saw his head shake in response before I was dragged another step closer, and I shivered when he leaned down and whispered in my ear, the tickle of his breath the only reason I did so.

That was what I told myself, at least.

"I should also mention that, due to my own personal superstitions, you won't be having sex for the duration of the time that you carry my child. I would rather not have the space I have paid for be intruded on," he muttered, and I ripped my gaze from his hand and up to his eyes in shocked derision, my mouth hanging open.

"You… you fucking prick!" I shouted, wanting for all the world to shove him away from me. "How dare you! You have _no_ right to tell me I can't have sex! You might own my uterus right now, but the rest of my body is mine, and if you had stayed in school or read a book once in your life, you would know that if a woman is pregnant, having sex is good for the fucking baby!"

Instead of offending him like I had hoped I would, his smirk only grew instead, his eyes flashing.

"I was not aware of this fact. In that case… I am sure that I do not need to tell you that the father would be the only one allowed to benefit the child," he implied, gaining a sultry look that would knock all of his fangirls off their feet in a second, and for the second time that day I tried to resist puking, making a face and turning away from him.

"Don't be ridiculous. There is no way in hell that I will _ever_ have sex with _you_. Fine; no sex. Got it. Now, this is how it's going to go down, alright? I have your kid, you name it and shit, and then we're…"

"A male."

I stopped at his abrupt interruption, turning to look at him again.

"What?" I asked, confused by his interjection, and he smiled in response, jerking his free thumb over his shoulder.

"The contract says that you are to deliver me a male heir. If the first child is a girl, then we try again, and so forth until a male is born," he said as if it was the simplest thing in the world, and I clenched my fists.

"Fuck… alright, _fine_. When I give you a _boy_, then we are square, you pay me, and that is the last I ever want to see of you. No Christmas cards, no hellos in the market, and definitely no falling in love with me," I stated and immediately wanted to facepalm. What made me say that?

Sasuke seemed just as taken aback by the comment, but was more amused than I was. He laughed outright, looking down at me incredulously.

"Fall in _love_? With _you_? Ha… what is this, one of those A Walk to Remember moments?" he snorted out, and I finally succeeded to rip my arm from his grip before shooting him a dirty look.

"No…" I said definitively, facing him head on. "This is one of those I've-Moved-On-With-My-Life-So-Don't-Fucking-Mess-It-Up moments. I'm done with your drama, your family, and most of all, I'm done with you. I don't love you anymore. You mean nothing to me. Now, _good day_, clan leader. I will see you tomorrow to discuss the scheduling for the tests that need to be done," I said before turning away and walking as fast as I could down the stairs without seeming like I was running away and without tripping, feeling proud of myself for standing up to him like that and finally, after two years, letting him know that I was _over him_.

I just wish that it was true.

* * *

><p>At the top of the stairs, Sasuke Uchiha stood in shock, staring after the woman that had just completely disowned him. He had never felt so… actually, he didn't know the word for how he felt.<p>

He felt disbelief, hurt, confusion, a tragic sort of emptiness… how could they coexist and cause so much pain? He refused to believe that the agony that made him want to break down into tears was coming from his heart, and instead focused on the one emotion that he felt that he actually knew how to handle… rage.

He let it have its way with him, hardening his eyes and firming his resolution.

So she thought that she was done with him, did she? After she had promised him everything she had to give, after he had taken pride, for _years,_ in the fact that he had someone waiting for him, after he had tried for seven months to get the elders to let him marry her after he returned to Konoha but had been refused it due to Tsunade's interference… he was nothing to her.

He wouldn't allow it.

He had seen the look in her eyes when he had teased her, when he had caught her unawares or angered her so much it made her blind to reason; somewhere within her, she still loved him. He knew it. And with that knowledge, he would bring her to her knees and force her to admit it.

Smirking confidently and turning back to walk to the Hokage's office to retrieve his wife, Sasuke nodded to himself and began to plot. He would prove to Sakura that she was wrong, and he would be there to hear the admission of it from her own lips.

Sakura Haruno would remember why she had been so devoted to him if it was the last thing he saw to.

* * *

><p><em>Holy crap. A one day update. XD<em>

_Told you it would be better. Hey, I actually kind of like it. Like I said before, I've been sitting on it for a long time, and I actually had this part written already, besides a few tweaks I did for interest's sake. Unfortunately… besides the prologue and this… I have no idea what I'm going to do with it besides a few details here and there and the very ending. No worries, it'll come to me, but this may be the last you see of any updates for this for a while. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I would really appreciate a review if you have the time. I love to hear from you. Ta until next time!_


	3. The Big Bad Bitch

_Oh god, I actually have a SasuSaku story. Lol I almost forgot about this little thing… and considering SasuSaku is my second favorite pairing, that makes me a little sad. Well, anyway… here is an update after almost forever of not having one. It won't be much, since I'm still knocking the dents out of how I want this story to go, but hopefully it won't be terrible. Refer to earlier chapters for rating and warnings._

_Disclaimer: Really. Just think about that for a second. Naruto= Me. No? I didn't think so._

* * *

><p>The Big Bad Bitch<p>

* * *

><p>Naruto stood leaning against one counter; I stood across from him, leaning on the other. We stared at each other; one with contemplative doubt, the other with hopeful chagrin. It was early; the sun had barely peeked above Hokage Mountain, and neither of us wanted to be awake.<p>

We had to be though, because our life together was coming to an all too abrupt end.

"I still don't understand why you have to do this," he said at long last, cradling his cup of coffee in his hands but not drinking from it, and I sighed, bracing my hands on the counter behind me and looking, with resignation, at the boxes that were stacked next to the door that lead out of our apartment.

"I don't either. I've told you all that I know about it; your best friend is making me go through an Invitro program with him, and I have to live at his house until I have the baby that he wants. It's a simple, if annoying, issue, and even though the last thing I want to do is have anything to do with him, the sooner this is over, the sooner I never have to see him again, and we can get back to how things were," I told him for what felt like the hundredth time, the more I was forced to repeat it the more it tore at my heart, and Naruto rolled his eyes, looking down at his mug as though it were making him nauseous.

"I know that. I just… why you? There are tons of kunoichi in the village, and most of them would be more than happy to have his kids," he elaborated, setting his unwanted drink to the side, and I gave him the only answer I could: a shrug.

"You would have to ask him that, Naruto. There really aren't _that_ many able kunoichi, but I know I'm not the only one, and I'm not sure why he wanted me for it. I would think that the likelihood of him having a pink haired son would be too much for him to want to risk it," I joked, trying desperately to get my despondent boyfriend to laugh, but the bare sliver of a smile he displayed only made me feel worse.

It had been like this ever since the day I had returned home to tell him about what had happened at Hokage tower; we had talked it over so much over the course of the month, and halfway through some nights, that all of the arguments we had made seemed to run together into a huge mess of unwillingness, depression, and fear. Nothing we had been able to think of could change it, though, none of the appeals we had brought to my shishou, the elders, and even Sasuke himself making any difference, and, slowly, we had become resigned to it, though we both had dreaded the day I would start the contract with helpless aversion.

Neither of us had gotten any sleep last night, keeping each other awake so that not one minute of the time we had left would be lost (I had stopped counting after the fifth time we had had sex; I think we used a whole box of condoms), and now the time for me to leave had come.

The last thing I wanted was to walk out that door; it felt so final that I was scared out of my mind.

"I really don't get where he gets off doing this to us, but nine months isn't so bad… right?" I assured him bleakly, trying to make light of the situation, but Naruto shook his head, raising one hand in an indication for me to stop.

"It kind of is. Everything could change between then and now…" he muttered, averting his normally effervescent eyes and hanging his head, but I walked over to him and took his face between my hands, making him look at me.

"It _won't_. We've been through way worse than this; we almost died at least ten times in the war and didn't grow apart. This is a hiccup compared to that. And besides… think of the reunion sex," I prompted, looking into his eyes significantly, and this time he did laugh, wrapping an arm around my back to hold me close to him.

"I thought you weren't supposed to have sex until like, two months after giving birth," he chuckled, nuzzling affectionately against my neck, and I shrugged again, planting a kiss against his cheek lingering.

"Eleven months then. But we won't fall apart, I promise; I'll come see you every free moment that I have. Considering the ass isn't going to let me work, that's probably going to be all the time," I promised him, playfully pushing him away when he started sliding his hands under my top (we didn't have the time for another round, though it killed me to have to deny him at a time like this), and Naruto nodded in response, pouting slightly at my refusal but allowing me to escape him.

"He's going to think twice about that one once you get bored. You really shouldn't be so mean to him, though, even if he _is_ being a dick about this. He just wants his family back; you can't really blame him for that. We would all be a little coarse if it meant getting back what we have lost," he reasoned, sliding his hands into the pockets of his pajama pants, and I lowered my eyes, actually chagrined by being reminded of what Sasuke, and what we all, had been robbed of.

I didn't like feeling sorry for him… it would make living with him that much harder.

"No one deserves what he suffered, but I can't forgive him; not for what he did during the war, and definitely not for what he's doing now. I have to go though… Mr. Prissy Pants would probably flip his lid if I was late," I muttered, staring at the sun's first rays beaming through the window over the kitchen sink as I tried to beat back my feelings, and Naruto clenched his lips, letting out a put upon sigh.

"Yeah, he's pretty particular about being on time, so I guess you should. You want me to come with you? I know they wouldn't let me in the room with you, but I could walk you there," he offered thoughtfully, but I shook my head, laying a hand on his bare chest and smiling up at him softly.

"It's okay, Naruto; you don't have to come. I don't want you to get in a fight with Sasuke again, not when you have that mission with Sai tonight; you need to stay and get some rest. Thank you for offering, though," I reassured, resisting the urge to grin at the memory of the state Naruto had left his best friend in after finding out what he had done (I regret not having a camera with me), and my boyfriend rolled his eyes, removing his hands from his pockets to place them on my shoulders.

"I wouldn't fight with him; we settled that already. But you're right, I guess… I'll need the sleep if I want to be able to deal with Sai," he conceded, laying his forehead on mine, and I shook my head in amazement, yet again amazed by his logic.

"You forgive too easily. Maybe that's why I love you so much, though… you forgave me for being an idiot for eight years," I amended, reaching up on my tiptoes to kiss him (the difference in our heights had never changed, at least not on my end; he was still a giant compared to me), and we spent a blissful moment lost in our lip lock, not caring that time was slipping away while we were entwined with one another, but we had to break apart sometime, and when the time had come I slipped from his arms regretfully, putting on a light jacket and picking up my medic's pack from on top of the pile of boxes as I paused by the door.

"I'll come for my stuff once it's done… you'll probably be asleep still," I told him, fidgeting with the strap of my pack awkwardly, and Naruto indicated his understanding with a jerky nod of his head, his eyes glittering dolefully.

"Yeah, probably. I… I love you," he whispered, his melancholy breaking his voice into shards of its true self, and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying, terrified and heartbroken by his dejection.

"Hey… hey. I'm not dying, I'm just moving across town. You're not losing me, not after you've stolen my heart the way you have. I love you too much," I reminded him urgently, and he managed a smile in response before shooing me out the door, and I went despite the doubt in my heart, sure that, at the end of all of this nonsense, we would be back here together, just the way that it was supposed to be.

Someday I will learn what a stupid notion optimism is.

The walk to the hospital was a well-trodden, uncomplicated affair, and the air was brisk this early in the morning, considering the lateness of the season and the lack of the warmth of the sun both (it was getting on in autumn; the first frost had set in only two days before), but neither the fact that I knew the road or wanted to be back in the warmth of a heated building could make me walk faster… not with what I knew was waiting for me in the procedure room.

I had tried to prepare myself for this, I really had; there was no getting out of it, after all, so I might as well get used to the idea of being a mother. I just couldn't get myself to comprehend it though; I knew all of the stages, all of the requirements necessary for keeping the fetus healthy and all the signs that would indicate any problems, but the reality itself, of a life, both mine and someone else's, growing inside of me was just too much for me to handle.

I was going to have to get in the right state of mind real fast, though… being stressed was bad for a baby, and even though I didn't care in the least for who its father was going to be, I refused to let a child suffer for my own feelings.

As the tall, off-white hospital building came into view over the rooftops of the slanted, strategically built buildings, a ray of sunshine blinding me as it did so, I grudgingly reached into the front pocket of my pack for the now well thumbed, slightly crinkled pack of papers that consisted of the contract I had to fulfill, looking over it one last time as I wove in between the unwillingly arisen citizens of the village.

I had long since read the damn thing, several times in fact, and discovered exactly how badly I had screwed up when I had; Tsunade hadn't been exaggerating when she had told me about the detail Sasuke had gone into when creating it. He had dictated a schedule for my daily life while at the compound, made a list of do's and don'ts regarding any exercises I wanted to do, repeated over and over that I was to involve him with every single infinitesimal aspect of the baby's growth… he had even constructed a diet for me (it involved an unusual amount of tomato products; I wasn't entirely sure what that was about).

I had also given up on the hope that he wasn't going to enforce all of them the entire time; over the course of the past month we had met repeatedly for various tests and informational seminars (I had been forced to go to the latter; they were required for the program despite the fact that they said nothing that was news to me) while we waited for my birth control treatment to be cleaned from my system, and he had quoted the contract at me like scripture the whole time.

I was surprised that I didn't know it by heart by now.

Scoffing and pushing back the nausea that threatened my tentative breakfast (I hadn't been able to force down any more than a single granola bar) from the eminent approach of what felt like my doom, I stuffed the packet of papers back into my pack, pulled open the back door to the outpatient clinic and walked in, waving hello to the nurse on duty as I walked through the long, wide room towards the hallway that lead to the back staircase.

Coming this way was a clever tactic that I had learned early on as a medic, as it was the handiest entrance to the hospital that wasn't a high traffic area, but, as an added bonus this morning, it also gave me the chance to avoid seeing Sasuke before I had to.

He would be waiting for me in front of the procedure room (since we weren't married, he wasn't allowed inside; thank _god_ for that), and I wouldn't be able to get to the prep room without passing by it if I came through the front entrance. I hadn't managed to completely bury my sympathy for the loss of his family yet, and I wouldn't face him until I had.

I couldn't afford showing weakness to him, not with the tentative (and often volitile) state of our relationship.

I got to the top floor without much incident, only having to hurriedly dodge one out of control gurney and rescue one escaped patient on the way, and when I finally reached the prep room where I was supposed to get ready for the injection, I was feeling pretty good about myself, looking at the wall clock just over the nurse's station with haughty glee.

Ten minutes to spare; Sasuke _and_ his OCD could shove it.

I pushed open one of the double doors with a careless hand, practically exuding smugness, but halted when I saw that Tsunade was already waiting (she would be giving me the injection today, and had done all of the exams on me before this; I trusted no one more than her in this capacity), pacing agitatedly back and forth from the exam table to the eye wash station. She saw me on the rebound and threw her hands up in the air exaggeratedly as though thanking god, letting out an overstated and rough sigh as she did.

"_Finally_! I thought you were never going to get here. You can't leave me alone with him like this, Sakura; I can't take it anymore. I'll wring his neck, and then we'll _really_ be in deep shit," she immediately raged, storming over to where I stood, blindsided and taken aback with my hand still on the doorknob, and I could only blink in response, clueless as to what she could be taking about.

"Calm down, shishou; who's pissing you off this time?" I pacified, raising my hands in a gesture of peace and innocence as I entered the room, allowing the door to close behind me and shrugging my bag off my shoulder, but Tsunade wasn't appeased, her anxiety only growing.

"I _can't_ calm down, Sakura, not with that little shit breathing down my neck! Do you know that he showed up _two hours_ ago? Wanting to check the fucking equipment himself, raging over having to have the best room for the procedure… if I hear him speak even one more time, I swear to god I'll rip my ears off," she exclaimed, grabbing my arm and dragging me over to the changing station hurriedly, and I rolled my eyes, realizing who we were talking about.

Sasuke had been acting more and more fanatical about today's procedure the longer that time had passed, constantly ragging on both Tsunade and me about going through all of the proper protocols and directives to prepare me for being as fertile as possible, and it was becoming more than a nuisance. It was like Naruto had said this morning, Sasuke was just anxious to have a family of his own after spending so long not having one, but it was getting to the point that I had to forcefully grit my teeth and stuff my hands in my pockets every time I heard the word baby just to avoid punching whoever was closest to me (Sasuke most often, unfortunately).

I was as restless to have this travesty of an agreement over with as much as I was reluctant to start it at all.

"Sasuke's just going to have to get used to the fact that some things are out of his control. Annoying you isn't going to make the sperm take any better," I reasoned, reaching for the hospital gown that I was going to have to wear for the duration of the insemination (urg… even thinking the word when in conjunction with that pig had me gagging), but was halted when Tsunade gripped my forearm tighter, turning me around firmly and giving me an annoyed and significant look.

"He stormed into my office this morning and demanded that we switch the procedure to natural insemination."

My mouth dropped open in shock, the paper and plastic gown falling gracelessly to the floor from my loosened grip.

"No, he can't just change his mind! It's too late, we already agreed on DIPI! It's in the contract!" I shrieked shrilly, enraged by the information that I was being told, and Tsunade winced, covering her ears and shooting a glare at me.

"He claims to have been misled by the program advisors, that he has heard since then that NI is the best and healthiest way to apply the zygotes, and wants it to be done that way instead," she said morosely, clearly mourning the loss of her hearing, and I bent to snatch the hospital gown up from the ground, fuming.

While it was true that natural insemination, the way that most people used to get pregnant (it sounds just like what it is, people; good old fashioned sex), was the most effective way to deliver the semen to the womb, there was no way in _hell_ that that was ever going to happen. That he would even suggest it… that he would have the _gall_ to try to change the procedure last minute, even with his mania for perfection…

Receiving this news did one good thing for me: I definitely didn't feel sorry for him anymore.

"Please tell me you told him to get his head out of his ass, shishou," I raged venomously as I stepped behind the changing curtain, shrugging out of my jacket and top a little more roughly than perhaps necessary, and I felt more than heard Tsunade's sharp bark of laughter.

"Of course I did! He's been harping on for a month about how his stupid contract is irrefutable, and I held him to that; it can be changed under _no_ circumstances, even his whims. _Gods_, Sakura. I'm a Hokage, not a pimp," she scoffed, her silhouette through the curtain folding its arms, and I smirked as I stepped out of my slacks, glad to have an ally of her caliber on my side.

I was not blind to the risk she had taken to stand up for me, either; she wasn't above the elder council, and if Sasuke complained about her refusal, she could be punished.

I wouldn't forget her assistance, not in this or anything else she had done for me.

Done with changing into the breezy and incredibly revealing gown (I had always hated these things; untimely gusts of winds were their worst enemies), I folded my clothes onto the chair next to the small clothes hamper provided for the disposal of used gowns, stepped out into the room, and gave my mentor a resigned nod.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I sighed, rolling my shoulders absently, and Tsunade breathed deeply in and out through her nose, as though trying to gather the nerve to do something.

"Good. Let's get this ridiculous procedure over with. The less time we wait, the sooner I get my grandbaby. I sure as hell hope it skips out on most of his side of the gene pool," she admitted, a grin overcoming her lips despite her annoyance (she had pretended not to be affected by my upcoming pregnancy, but she was excited and I could tell; she saw me as the daughter that she had never had, and considered any child of mine to be her legal and rightful spoiling property), and I could only laugh as we walked together to the double doors and into the hallway, far too amused by the thought of Sasuke's reaction to having a family of children that looked exactly like me.

We didn't have to walk far to reach the room where I would be undergoing the procedure; truth be told, I hadn't even known which room it was we were going to until we turned the corner to see Sasuke leaning sullenly against one of the doors, avidly watching the doorway that he probably thought I was going to be coming through (I had thought it was going to be farther down the hall, by pediatrics).

I could practically see his intentions on his face; he was on self-righteous tenterhooks, just waiting to tell me off for almost being late.

_Ha_… _one point for me_, I thought to myself gleefully, sauntering down the hallway towards him (as well as someone can saunter in a hospital gown, at least) haughtily. It wasn't often that I got an opportunity to outsmart him (which was unfortunate, considering how good it felt), and I wasn't about to pass up to chance to rub it in before taking him to town for his thankfully failed attempt at subterfuge.

"Looking for someone?" I called out antagonistically, actually making him jump from how suddenly I had made myself known (it was pretty funny seeing Sasuke surprised; I only remember seeing it twice), and he turned quickly to glare at me, eyes flickering judgingly over my loose, suddenly far too short gown.

"Well, at least you know how to be punctual. I suppose you _had_ to be good at something… a person can only be deficient in so many fields without ceasing to be the same species as the rest of us," he replied languidly, gaze lingering uncomfortably on the slit that ran up the side of my left thigh before flashing up to meet mine, and a scowl overcame my previous grin, my teeth gritting hatefully as Tsunade rolled her eyes and pushed past Sasuke into the procedure room, mumbling under her breath about wastes of time and bigotry.

So _that's_ how it was going to be… fine.

"Speaking of deficiencies… did your _brain_ short circuit?" I growled, stomping up to him and just barely resisting pushing him (the last thing I needed was to get shocked; I had pushed my limits with that particular treatment over the course of the last month, and the headaches that came from my nerves backfiring were not worth the satisfaction of hitting him), looking up the distance between our heights with pure loathing. "Natural insemination? How _dare_ you. I've let you push me around for the past month about this shit, but that is too fucking _far_."

I had been sure that assaulting his moral standing would offend him, but Sasuke didn't appear to be bothered by my attack, instead merely raising his eyebrows and folding his arms over his chest nonchalantly.

"This isn't about trying to have sex with you, Sakura. I was merely worried for the success of the operation today; I am anxious to have my son, and anything that makes that a reality that much sooner is worth a chance," he claimed, shrugging his shoulders to show the harmlessness of his request, but his eyes had something in them that said differently than his assertion, something softer and more meaningful.

I didn't care what it was at the moment, though, far too embarrassed by him speaking out loud what I had only so far thought of in private, and I turned away to glower at the oak door beside him, an attempt to keep from blushing over his words.

"When this thing is over, Uchiha, I swear to all the gods I'm going to hit you so hard that your _ancestors_ feel it," I spat, reaching purposefully for the knob that would allow me to escape from him, but was halted before I could turn it; Sasuke had reached out and grabbed my wrist, turning me to face him again despite my struggle.

"When that time comes, you _last_ thing you're going to want to do is hurt me," he avowed, that cocky, self-satisfied leer that I had once thought was so sexy on his lips (twelve year old me was a retard), and then released me, waving me in to the room as he turned his back and started to walk towards the sparsely populated immunization waiting lounge just down the hall. "Don't be rude; you're keeping Hokage-sama waiting."

I glared venomously at his back, miming strangling him from the distance we were at, before scoffing and letting myself into the procedure room, my aggravation (and discomfiture) with Sasuke fading into contemplative blankness. What did he foresee happening that made him so sure that my attitude towards him was going to change? If he thought that my having his kid was going to change anything between us, he had another thing coming.

Pregnancy hormones were weird, but not _that_ weird.

Rolling my eyes and letting out a sigh, I dragged myself over the exam table and hoisted myself up on top of it, settling noisily on the hygienic cover with the customary crinkling of paper and watching placidly as Tsunade arranged the surgical tray, the four inch long needle on the preloaded syringe lying in the middle of it shining menacingly in the artificial light of the overhead panel.

This was it…

"Alright, let's get started," Tsunade said, turning around with the tray in her hands. "You should be glad they've updated the procedure for this, you know; they used to shove a two inch diameter tube…"

"Okay, moving on!" I said hurriedly, swinging my feet up onto the table with me and laying back, not wanting to think about the medieval, surely excruciating methods for Invitro Fertilization that had been used only a few years past (I felt nauseous enough already), and Tsunade chuckled, pulling my gown aside to reveal my abdomen and rubbing a sterile pad over the area where she would be injecting me.

"Yeah, it's not really something you want to be thinking about right now. You need to be relaxed for this part…" she assured me, setting the cotton pad aside and picking up the needle, and I gulped noisily, averting my eyes to the poster covered roof tiles (the nurses liked to put humorous cartoons and papers on the OBGYN ceilings to entertain the people who were being examined). I wasn't afraid of the pain that I was going to feel; it was like I had said before.

Knowing what was inside that syringe, what it was, most likely, going to give rise to… I just wasn't ready.

But I had no choice in resisting; my compliance had been mandated by not only the elder council, but by my own signature, and besides… it wouldn't be all that terrible. I was getting paid a ridiculous sum of money for going along without struggling, would get a substantial raise once I returned to work (a little something that Tsunade had worked out with the elders), and would finally be washed of Sasuke following my birthing him a son (I had _that_ little promise down in writing), so I could put up with it.

It would be well worth it just to never see him, or the family he was forming, again.

I ignored the prick of conscience that niggled at the back of my mind, drowning out the tiny voice that whispered shaming words of abandonment and cold heartedness in my ear (it wasn't going to be my child, not really… I had no right, or reason, to feel anything for it…) by biting the inside of my cheek instead, the slow, burning insertion of the needle uncomfortable enough to put my sudden rush of morality out of my mind.

It was over faster than most would believe, one push of the plunger all there was to the procedure (besides luck and a too long interval of having to sit almost upside down so the semen could get started on its way), and ten minutes later I was, albeit reluctantly, following Sasuke out of the hospital, one hand over my eyes (the sun had come out over the mountains fully and was shining right in my eyes) and the other held to my lower abdomen, the entry wound of the injection annoyingly sore.

Forcing back the sneeze that usually came with the sudden appearance of the sun, I glared at Sasuke's back, hurrying my steps as much as I was willing to so I could keep up with him (he had a confident length to his stride and a spring in his step; he must be excited by the prospects of the success of the procedure) but was constantly hindered by my newly acquired injury.

Screw him; I wasn't going to hurt myself just to keep up with him.

"Gods, Sas… Uchiha, would you slow down? You may have forgotten, but I just had a needle half the size of my arm shoved into my uterus, and I'm not quite up to sprinting yet," I yelled at him from the distance I had fallen behind, several people looking askance at me for my frankness (I jerked one thumb at them for their curiosity, rudely telling them to mind their own business), and halfway down the street, apparently taken aback by how far behind I was, Sasuke stopped and turned to look at me, a question that I could read even from this distance in his eyes.

I had almost slipped up and said his first name in front of him…

It, truth be told, really wasn't that important of a detail to observe. It was actually rather childish of me; we had been friends, or as close to them as team members could be, since we were twelve, and I was well within my rights and social priviledges to use his first name. But I stood by what I had told myself the very day that Sasuke had come home, since I had seen him walk past the front gates as though he deserved to be there: if I said his name like I had once, when we had both been younger and freer, it would mean that I had forgiven him and that things could go back to the way they had been.

That was never going to happen.

I had stuck by this resolution like a new religion. I had seen him in person (before this fiasco, of course) a number of times that I could count on my fingers over the years that he had been back (as I had avoided him whenever possible), and had refused to use anything but his surname when speaking to him, much to his and everyone else's bemusement. He had asked me why on numerous occasions, ones that I completely and happily ignored him on, and was so far happy with the results.

It was different now, though… if he wanted to, he could force me to call him by his first name; according to the wording of the contract, I had to obey any direct commands he gave me unless I wanted to suffer his prescribed punishment. I didn't want to think about what this implied for the duration of my stay in his compound.

Would he really be so cruel as to force me to do things against my will?

I shook my head, shoving the macabre thought away forcefully as I slowly approached Sasuke through the crowd, my gaze averted from his own questioning and sharp one. I couldn't afford to think like that, not with who I was dealing with; I needed to be on my toes with this man.

Avoidance and deception were my friends; sloth and trust my worst enemies.

"I can see that stupid grin from a mile away, and if I hear even one word about what was in that syringe I'm going to punch holes in all of your walls," I warned him acerbically as I finally came level to him (I had to wait for a much too long moment while a fish monger slowly idled his cart across the street), hopeful of distracting him from my slipup by attacking directly, and, if anything was to be taken from the sudden appearance of his infamous smirk, I was successful.

"Wouldn't dream of it. I have no need to antagonize you; just knowing my son is this much closer is enough. Now hurry up. I don't have all day to waste with moving your belongings; I have business to conduct this afternoon," he chuckled, amused by my assertion and apparently forgetting about my thoughtlessness, but it was only as we turned down the street towards my apartment (no, it was just Naruto's now…) instead of heading straight down the main road that I realized what was going on.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up a second; who said you were helping me move? I thought you were just going to show me around your house," I protested immediately, scowling up at my companion as he continued walking despite my sudden outburst, and Sasuke looked over his shoulder at me mildly, one eyebrow raised derisively as he sidestepped a small crowd of browsing housewives on their daily shopping round.

"I did. It may be news to you, but women who are with child are not supposed to lift heavy objects, and I can only assume that you, being the packrat that always have been, own far too much. Allowing you to strain yourself would be a detriment to what we are trying to accomplish with this morning's procedure, and as such I will assist you," he explained condescendingly, as though I should have foreseen his sudden chivalry in advance, and I scoffed, unimpressed with his allegation.

"I'm not even pregnant yet. Lifting a _mountain_ wouldn't hurt me, much less your precious kid; I can do it myself later, just like I was planning," I sneered, stopping right in the middle of the crowded street and folding my arms immovably, and Sasuke stopped as well, turning to look down at me with an unreadable expression.

He considered me in silence for a far too long moment (I didn't like him staring at me; it made me want to blush, and that was the last thing that I needed to be doing around him), eyes flickering over my face consideringly, before he frowned and shook his head, waving a hand through the air negatingly.

"This point is nonnegotiable. You will not lift anything heavier than five pounds for the duration of the contract, chakra enhanced strength or not," he ordered monotonously, turning away again and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his loose shinobi slacks as he merged himself with the roiling mass of civilians, and, within my consciousness, something clicked into place, as immobile and strong as a stone wall. It was a strange feeling, one that I immediately wondered at quizzically, but it didn't take long to recognize what had happened; the implications had been on my mind for long enough, after all.

He had given me a command, and the contract I had signed, as well as the jutsu that had been transcribed into my body, had recognized his word as law.

Irked and furious, I hurried after Sasuke, stomping across the cobbled street with temper in my every step. He had a lot of fucking nerve, and he was _really_ pushing his luck today. I was pretty much to the point where I didn't even care that it would hurt me if I punched him in his stupid, pretty face, and I intended to do just that until I broke through the crowd and saw where he had gone.

Sasuke had stopped at the corner where a bakery that made the most delicious cupcakes sat, and was kneeling in the gutter next to a sobbing little red haired boy that sat on the curb, holding his shoulders and speaking to him quietly. The boy was bruised, scraped, and dirty, presumably a ninja in training from the headband he wore tied around his upper arm, but despite his injuries, and through the tears streaming down his face, he was smiling in response to whatever it was that Sasuke was telling him, nodding hesitantly and wiping at his cheeks with the back of his hand.

Apparently satisfied with this, Sasuke stood, held out a hand, and then pulled the boy up as well, ruffling his ragged, dirty hair and then pushing him in the direction that I knew the genin training grounds to be. The little boy shot off immediately, though he turned and waved to Sasuke enthusiastically before disappearing from sight, and then vanished, clearly excited to be on his way.

I wasn't entirely sure what to make of this encounter. It was unlike Sasuke, or at least the Sasuke I had once known, to be kind for no reason to someone he met on the street. He liked his space, kept to himself, and kept his own council. He didn't talk to those he didn't think deserved it, didn't regard anyone outside his circle of forced acquaintance, dwelled constantly on his appearance to those around him, and thrived in this environment.

But to see him with that little boy, uncaring of the dirt he had gotten on his clothes or the stares he was getting from those around him…

Sasuke remained as he was as I came abreast of him, staring after where the boy had disappeared around the corner of the adjacent block with blank focus, but looked down at me from the corner of his eye when I had come to halt beside him, folding his arms and jerking his head in the direction of the distant tree line.

"His name is Kyo. His parents died in the war, and he has been living on the street and the village's less guarded venues ever since. I found him attempting to steal from the ruins of the Uchiha compound not long after returning to the village, but let him go instead of turning him over to the authorities. He continued to return, after that; not to steal, but to ask me to train him. He came every night until I agreed," Sasuke told me, looking down at the crack in the stone that he stood before with his mouth in a flat line.

"He is very intelligent, and skilled in ninjutsu; his parents had intended to enter him in the academy, but passed on before they could, and he lacked the proper training to be accepted into the school. He told me that I had been the only person to give him any modicum of kindness in the time that he had been alone, along with being the only one that had caught him in his thieving, and wanted me to help him," he finished, letting out a sigh and shaking his head, and I stared at him, blindsided and reluctantly touched.

This story sounded all too familiar for my liking… it reminded me of what he had suffered.

"Did he get in? Since then, I mean," I asked, curious and moved, and Sasuke nodded curtly, giving one last glance to the empty street corner before turning and walking on, weaving between the residents of the town going about their day.

"Yes, with flying colors. He has been incessantly bullied since then, however, and what you saw today was the result of that. His classmates are contemptuous brats, scornful of his lack of parentage and small stature, and think him weak because of this. He is not, though… he has strength of heart, and of mind, and one day he will be great because of that," he illuminated, his gaze set on the horizon without really seeing it, and then smirked amusedly, snorting through his nose. "That boy is the reason that I started trying to have children. I hope one day to have a son half as smart and brave as he."

I bit my bottom lip to still it, as it had started to tremble from my barely withheld emotions. I didn't want to be affected by his tale, I really didn't, but I had always been easily moved when it came to other's hardships. That poor little boy… to lose parents that you have barely even known… I had had mine long enough to make unforgettable memories, and I was lucky for that, but people like Sasuke and Kyo had lost theirs before they had that chance. There was something about this story that seemed odd to me, though, despite the heart melting quality of its being.

Surely assisting this boy would remind Sasuke of what he had lost… why would he risk that?

"Why did you help him? He tried to steal from you; wouldn't it have been easier to just… to let him live like everyone else had let him?" I asked as stoically as I could manage, even though my throat was tight as the words left my lips, and Sasuke's shoulders stiffened, his head bowing seemingly against his will. He came to a stop in the lot that stood in front of the apartment building where I had lived for the past year, his sandals scraping against the loose gravel as he halted, and, with great significance, he looked over his shoulder at me sadly, his long bangs shadowing his obsidian irises into bleakness.

I would never forget what he said next, and if he hadn't told me what he had… I don't think anything would have turned out the same.

"Kyo reminded me of Naruto in many ways. No one ever helped him. No one cared that his parents had sacrificed their all for the safety of the village, even though they left a son behind. No one gave him a chance to prove himself, only ridiculing him and mocking him and tossing him to the side. If he had had someone to care, to give him the strength that he needed to lean on, to be his friend… maybe everything would have been different. I wanted to be that person, since I had failed to be when I had the chance before," he admitted quietly, the pain of the years lost between he and his closest friend evident in his eyes and the snag in his voice, before he averted his gaze away and to his toes, his lips clenched together tightly.

"And it didn't matter that he tried to steal from me, even after I had heard his short life's story. Everyone deserves the second chance that I got, even when they have done wrong to those that they care about, the only people who were ever there for them."

The heart breaking, tear jerking feeling returned tenfold as I realized what he was trying to say, that this was the apology that I had never anticipated getting for the treatment he had given to not only Naruto, but to me as well, and if it hadn't been for the grudge I had sworn on him the moment that he had tried to kill both of us, I would have hugged him; I could feel the itch in the palms of my hands, the need for reciprocation in my heart. I couldn't, though… not after the magnitude of what he had done, how much he had betrayed.

I could never forget, and so neither would he.

Slightly chagrined over my cruel and childish thoughts but determined to uphold them, I rolled my eyes, pushed past him roughly, and stomped up the wide stone stairs to the second floor of the building, disregarding Sasuke's silent presence behind me as he followed my ascent obediently. The apartment wasn't that far, which I silently thanked the gods for, so I didn't have to languish in the uncomfortable silence for too long before I was able to occupy myself with unlocking the door, purposefully ignoring Sasuke as he cast observant looks around his surroundings (he had taken me home from various OBGYN appointments in the past month, but had never been into the apartment).

I've never been good with oppressive quiet… I'm far too used to speaking what I have on my mind.

At long last I managed to wrest open the door (I need to remind Naruto to replace this knob again… it's been sticking for the last few months), stumbling inside with ungainly balance loss, but I brushed aside the hand that Sasuke had extended to steady me and went inside, waving impatiently at the small stack of boxes that rested just inside the entryway.

"This is it. I was going to put them in here, considering the fact that it's stupid to try to carry so much halfway across town, but since you insist on being the _man, _you can do it," I told him, picking up a storage scroll that was sitting on top of the pile and holding it out to him, and he gave me a stern look that I let roll off of me as he took it before looking away and around the room, inspecting the interior of the apartment clinically.

"Naruto is going to suffer without you here; it's clear that you are the only thing that stands between him and absolute chaos. I remember what this place used to look like… the change is for the better," he chuckled, smiling with what looked like fond reminiscence at the kitchen table, and I scoffed, all too familiar with Naruto's housekeeping habits.

"He'll manage; I won't let it get too terrible, even if I have to spend all my free time here cleaning," I told him, kicking my sandals off so I could go further into the room and sit on one of the couches while he worked (my stomach was hurting pretty badly by this point), and Sasuke stilled, a dark look overcoming his mirth.

"We talked about this; you're not allowed to sleep with him, or anyone else, for that matter, while you're pregnant with my child," he said sharply, and I rolled my eyes as I plopped down on the loveseat, propping my feet on the coffee table comfortably.

"I'm well aware. What _you_ may not be aware of is that people in relationships are capable of doing other things besides screwing each other every second. You said no sex, not no relationship, and there is nothing in the contract that says I can't," I gloated, pleased with the loophole I had found that he clearly hadn't expected, and Sasuke pinked around his cheeks slightly and turned to the stack of boxes quickly, clearly displeased and chastened by my antagonism.

He worked in silence for a few minutes, easily moving half the load into the scroll despite most of them being filled with books (I refused to be bored out of my mind while being forced to stay with him), but then stopped as though realizing something, looking around the room again with a box of my clothes in his arms.

"Where _is_ the dobe, anyway? He's usually up by now, drinking that crap coffee that he likes," he queried, looking over at the hallway that led to the bedroom and bathroom curiously, and I nodded my head towards where he was looking.

"He's sleeping in. We had a long night, and he has a mission with Sai later in the evening," I informed him languidly, stretching my arms behind me, and Sasuke raised his eyebrows, giving me a sardonic sneer.

"Long night, huh?" he snarked suggestively, clearly feeling that nothing else needed to be said on the subject, and I smiled at him sarcastically, flipping him off and averting my gaze up to the ceiling.

"You're just jealous that I have someone _worth_ having sex with. I really don't know how you can stand fucking that woman," I sniped, feeling very pleased with myself, but didn't get the reaction I was expecting: Sasuke actually _laughed_, throwing his head back and chortling with relish. I was surprised by how normal it sounded, and how little it had changed; I hadn't heard him laugh in over five years, and the tones of his amusement were almost exactly the same, if only a little deeper. I don't know why, but I had expected it to sound more demented… more evil.

He calmed after a prolonged moment of self-pleasing humor, wiping at an imaginary tear in his eye, before looking back at me with a secretive grin.

"Oh sure, it's hard to put up with my wife when she's got an opinion on something, which is usually always… but believe me, Sakura, she's got better things to do with her mouth when I take her to bed," he snickered, perversely entertained, and it was then my turn to blush as I immediately pretended I hadn't gotten that particular image in my head, slightly disgusted by the thought.

I left my seat, and the room, for that matter, so I wouldn't be forced to continue a conversation on the same subject, walking quickly down the short hallway Sasuke had been gazing down earlier. The bathroom door at the end of the walkway stood open, exhibiting the small square of green carpeting that stood in front of the sink and the pale blue shampoo and conditioner bottles the ajar shower curtain made readily viewable, but the bedroom door that stood across from the small coat closet was almost completely closed, the quiet sounds of Naruto's snores coming through the small crack.

I smirked habitually, reminded of my boyfriend's frequent but always un-remedied allergies by his congestion, and then slid into the room as quietly as possible (I didn't like to brag, but I was pretty good at this; I _was_ a ninja, after all) after sending a short glance back at Sasuke (he was once again stuffing boxes into the storage scroll, face blank and unreadable), desiring to see Naruto again before leaving.

I walked quietly over to his side of the modestly sized bed we had shared, shaking my head over the still tangled sheets and mussed pillows that Naruto had thrown himself into the middle of, his shaggy blonde hair lank and slightly damp against the comforter (he must have taken a shower after I left). I really don't know what I was going to do without going to bed every night with him, having spontaneous ramen dinners despite having just had it for lunch, rubbing Aloe Vera on his shoulders when he stayed out in the sun too long training yet again…

I shook myself, urging away my melancholic thoughts by kneeling down beside the edge of the bed and carefully smoothing a lock of Naruto's hair out of his eyes. I shouldn't think like this; it would just depress me, and that was the last thing I needed now that I was going to be carrying a baby.

I smiled softly as Naruto nuzzled into the warmth of my hand, mumbling under his breath before settling into deep sleep once more, and I was just leaning down to kiss him, heart aching for my leaving him alone, even if it wasn't my decision or choice, when a resounding crash came from the living room, accompanied by the tinkling of breaking glass and a string of explicatives that gave away who was responsible for the noise.

Standing up quickly and casting one last glance over my boyfriend (I have no idea how he hadn't been woken by that ruckus…), I exited the room and paced into the living area of the apartment to find the box that Sasuke had apparently dropped, the container turned over on its side and emptied of almost all its contents. It had just so happened to be the only box I had put anything breakable in as well, and the shards of shattered porcelain and splintered wood indicated that at least one of my mother's prized picture frames had been broken.

Sasuke wasn't paying attention to the mess all around him, however; he was sitting motionless on his knees in the midst of it all, eyes locked with both disbelief and haunted optimism on a piece of paper that he had clutched in his hands. He looked up at me the moment I entered the room, his eyes darting over my face as though searching for something that he just couldn't find.

"You kept it," he said shortly once he had given up trying to extract answers from me silently, a reverence that I've never heard in his voice giving deeper meaning to whatever it was that he was trying to say, and I furrowed my eyebrows, picking my way through the debris on the floor so I could see what he was talking about.

"Kept what? And was it really necessary to destroy all of my…" I started to snap, anger over his apparent clumsiness rising to a boil under my skin (I would have thought he did it on purpose if I had had any proof that he knew what was in it), but stuttered to a halt when I saw what he was holding between his hands: the twelve year old faces of Team Seven looked up at me just as they had the day that photo had been taken, immortalized by photo finish paper and the various frames I had carefully enclosed it in for the past six years.

I had swooned, and cried, over this picture more than I liked to admit, but it was the only one that had ever been taken of us together before Sasuke had fled to Oto… it was a precious memory, and one I was loath to lose. No matter what I claimed in my anger and childish ignominy, Sasuke had been a big part of my life, and even though I intended to remove him himself from it entirely, I had never seriously considered destroying this picture. I had never planned on him finding out about it, that was for sure, but even now, faced with having to explain my keeping an implicating piece of evidence against my claim for caring for him… I wouldn't let it go.

Maybe that was hypocritical of me, wanting to remember without being forced to face the source of my pain and heartache… but I didn't care.

"Of course I kept it," I said quickly, snatching the photo from his hands and turning my back on him so he wouldn't see the conflicting emotions on my face, carefully smoothing out one of the corners that had started to bend. "Most of the people in this picture mean a lot to me; just because your ugly mug is in it doesn't mean I have to get rid of it."

Sasuke snorted from behind me, clearly skeptical but allowing me my denial. "Like I'm not the best looking person in the photo. And just so you know, I would recommend packing something besides cinderblocks next time you have someone else move your things… you're likely to end up with messes like these if you do," he suggested, turning the box back over before standing and brushing off his knees, and I rolled my eyes, swiftly dropping the picture back into the now righted box.

"It would probably do your stick arms some good to lift some real weight once in a while, wimp," I sneered as I strode into the kitchen to fetch the broom, happy to finally have something to do while waiting and thankfully ignoring his comment on being the most handsome of those present in the photograph.

There was no need to rub in the fact that, while we _still_ had no idea what Kakashi was hiding behind his mask, the rest of us had looked like delinquent, pig sty ragamuffins when held in comparison to the more genetically superior Uchiha. Things had changed since then, anyway; while I wouldn't compare myself to them (considering the fact that I'm female and thus on a different scale), Naruto and Sasuke were definitely running neck and neck in the looks department now.

Muscle mass, height, and personal hygiene go a long, _long_ way.

I shook my head over my thoughts, chuckling silently while pushing the broken glass and splinters into the dustpan with the broom I held (Sasuke had finished putting the box away and was waiting impatiently outside; he, and I quote, "Had had enough of the smell of dobe"). Most of the girls in the village would probably disagree with me on this subject, considering how many of them still gossiped about Sasuke as though he were available and on the prowl (it was, honestly, quite disgusting how they salivated over him; to think I had once been the foremost of them, and still would be, if I hadn't wised up, was enough to turn my stomach).

Sticking my tongue out and blowing a raspberry, I shook the trash I had collected into the trashcan, replaced the broom between the counter and the refrigerator, and slowly walked to the front door, looking around myself sadly as I did. It wasn't forever, I knew that, but leaving still felt like I was tearing myself away from this place for good, and I didn't like that at all.

"Hey, what are you doing in there? I have things to do besides tote you around town," Sasuke complained from outside as I ran a hand along the back of the arm chair I was standing behind, jerking me from my second depressive regression in one day, and I sighed, acknowledging his annoyance with my dallying and left without looking back, though I immediately regretted it when the door closed, my heart sinking into my stomach and my eyes dropping to my feet in remorse.

Sasuke kept up a constant commentary on our way back through the village (which was now even more congested), outlining what he expected me to do and not do once we got to the compound despite the fact that I already knew and he was aware of that (maybe he was too used to being with Naruto, who frequently forgot important things like mission scrolls and pants), but I didn't reply to him beyond grunts of acknowledgement, hands stuffed in my pockets and head bowed.

Not only did I feel terrible about having to leave Naruto for so long, if only in the capacity of being a functioning girlfriend, but the procedure had hurt worse than I had thought it would and wasn't doing any good for my now empty and gurgling stomach.

Today just kept getting worse and worse…

The old Uchiha compound wasn't too far from the apartment complex where I had been living, considering the size of the district when compared to the village (the land reserved for the family was enormous for there only being one of them left, though it wasn't so outlandish when allowing for how many had been around before Itachi had been forced to assassinate them all), so it wasn't long before the shadow of the rebuilt, intimidatingly tall pine gates came into view, now wide open where they would have been closed and guarded not that long ago.

Sasuke had done a lot of work to restore the crumbling and derelict ruins of his family's prison, spending more time and more money on it than I, and most of the villagers, could understand. Many had questioned his returning to it, coming back to the place where his relatives had been rounded up, kept, and then slaughtered like animals; most had thought he would take one of the newly rebuilt manors in town, someplace extravagant enough to fit his family name and large enough to fit his desire for as large a family as possible.

His reply to Naruto's query about the subject had silence all further questions about it, however.

"_I planned a betrayal just as terrible and damning as the one my family once intended to employ… I belong here just as much as they did. Someday, I hope this place can be more than the containment that it was made to be, but for now… I will make my penance here."_

Hearing about this had brought tears to my eyes despite the hardness of my heart, and looking on the newly molded stone and spliced wood that formed the buildings that Sasuke had raised with his own hands was like a surge of reality that had no place in my intentions for how the contract I was fulfilling was going to turn out; every brick laid, every sapling planted here was a testament to how much Sasuke had changed, how much he wanted to prove that he was better than the crimes he had committed, no matter the fact that his sins had been excused in the wake of the war.

I didn't need to be reminded of how wrong it was to hate someone for who they had once been; I knew that perfectly well.

As such, I looked around at the hauntingly beautiful buildings we passed on the way to the clan leader's home as little as possible, my eyes locked on the bricked in path that we walked whenever possible. Fortunately for me Sasuke had a lot to say, only stopping in his monologue of what was where long enough for me to concede that I had heard him before plowing on, and didn't seem to notice my evasion maneuvers.

I didn't bother pretending not to see anything once we got to the main house, however… it was simply too much to ignore.

I had actually been to the grand home once before, as a much younger girl, a necessity demanded by the fact that Sasuke had slept in on the morning of a mission so late that even Kakashi had showed up before him, but hadn't been since it had been rebuilt; that would have ruined my penchant for avoiding him, after all. He had spared no expense with its rebuilding; the finest of everything, from wood to rice paper to décor, had been added, just the glimpse of the entryway and foyer I could see from the open shoji that Sasuke had pulled open for me magnificent enough to put my attempts at housekeeping to shame.

Did he have maids, or did Karin clean all of it herself?

I actually let out a laugh at the thought, having a hard time imagining Karin scrubbing the floors without complaining to high heaven, and accepted Sasuke's chivalrous gesture without comment or acknowledgement, stepping into his home after toeing out of my sandals. He had clearly decided to stick with a more traditional build as a theme for the compound, rather than going along with the rest of the village and updating to a more westernized style; there were tatami mats, low tables, and shoji absolutely everywhere, and as far as I could see, there was no second level to any of the homes.

If he had a rock garden in the back, I was going to have a hard time not giggling all the time.

"Nice place," I allowed grudgingly, putting my hands on my hips as I bent to inspect a miniature, working model of a bamboo water wheel in a corner that had caught my attention (I loved these things… they made wonderfully calming background noise for reading, especially when combined with one of the knocking fountains traditionalists usually kept in their gardens), and Sasuke hummed in agreement from the doorway, stepping out of his shoes as well before drawing the door closed.

"It does itself justice, and I was pleased with how it turned out. Perhaps not ideal for raising children, but as long as they are watched carefully, nothing too drastic should occur," he commented, hands folded over his chest and eyes keen while he watched me explore his living area, and something in my brain perked up in unease, the word _children_ setting off alarms.

He seemed awfully sure that there was going to be more than one…

I decided to keep that thought to myself, making a show of flicking through the books on one of his bookshelves while I composed myself (was he going to set up another contract with the Invitro programmers once we were done? Surely he wasn't intending, or hoping, for our attempt today to be a girl instead of a boy…), and then turned on my heel abruptly, looking at Sasuke expectantly.

"Well, where am I staying? I thought you had somewhere to be," I quipped, raising my hands to indicate my bemusement with his dawdling, and Sasuke leered at me sarcastically before beckoning over his shoulder and walking into the hallway that ran between the dining and living room, a series of both open and closed shoji spaced evenly along its walls.

"You'll be in the room directly beside mine; I want you to be close in case there is an emergency or you need my assistance," he told me as we walked, making a right turn before coming face to face with two doors, and I made a face, peeking inside the room I was closest to perfunctorily.

"I'm not going to hear you and the airhead doing the nasty through the walls, am I? Because I request a room change if I am," I ranted, cringing from just thinking about it, and Sasuke let out a derisive laugh, pushing the door I was trying to look through closed and indicating the other.

"The doors are made of wood and paper, Sakura, but the _walls_ aren't. They're pretty thick, but if you do happen to hear anything, I suggest earplugs, because you're not moving," he insisted, following after me when I pushed past him into the smaller bedroom, and I rolled my eyes at him over my shoulder before flopping onto the four-poster bed, genuinely surprised to find it there.

"A real bed, Uchiha? And here I was expecting to be rolling around on the floor," I remarked, my voice slightly muffled by how I was nuzzling into the down cover (this was almost _sinful_…), and Sasuke shrugged one shoulder, walking over to the desk just under a wide window (looking out over, surprise surprise, a rock garden) and setting the storage scroll he had been carrying on top of it.

"I thought that you might not like being forced to ask me for help each morning to be able to get up, once you are far enough along, and asked for this to be installed for you. I can have it removed and put a futon down for you, if you'd like…" he suggested, though I could hear the teasing in his voice, so I just ignored him and waved a hand at the doorway, rolling over and hugging one of the pillows set artfully at the foot of the headboard.

"That'll be all, Jeeves. Be on your way," I muttered, and heard Sasuke scoff from across the room, either amused by or just contemptuous of my dismissal.

"Very well, I trust that you'll remember not to unload any of your things until I am here to help you… I shouldn't be more than three hours. Neji called a meeting for the ANBU captains earlier this morning, and I'm already late. Once I change I'll be off," he informed me unnecessarily, and I nodded just to make him leave, too preoccupied with finally having the ache in my abdomen fade away to notice (or care) that he walked off without shutting the door.

Maybe I would try to find the kitchen in a few minutes… hopefully there would be something edible in there.

"Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in," an unwelcome, snide voice called from the doorway, interrupting me from basking in a moment of pain free bliss, and I lifted my head to see Karin standing where Sasuke had been just a moment before, a sneer of confident levity lifting her painted lips. I let out a puff of air and laid back down, refusing to let myself be annoyed by her.

I was going to have to live with her for nine months… might as well attempt to be somewhat civil.

"Well, well. Look what the cat threw up," I replied wearily, holding up one hand and inspecting my nail polish distractedly, and Karin huffed, offense and bluster making a blush rise on her cheeks.

"I wouldn't be acting so high and mighty, not when you're just another trinket lying around my husband's house. He'll throw you away just like all the rest as soon as he's done with you, so don't get comfortable," she sniped, and I sighed heavily, propping myself up on my elbows so I could watch her puny mind at work.

She was really determined to get on my nerves today…

Karin had been trying to push my buttons every day, and often multiple times during those days, since the meeting in my master's office. She was clearly threatened by me, probably because she thought I wanted to take her man (ha…), but no matter how often I stressed that I had absolutely no interest _whatsoever_ in taking Sasuke from her, she wouldn't believe me.

Damn my stupid twelve year old self and her obsessive ways…

"And that's just the way I like it. Believe you me, the last thing I want to be doing is taking up the same air you breathe," I retorted, waving a hand at her heavily made up, badly dressed presence, and the red haired woman puffed up indignantly, her fists clenching at her sides.

"At least I have a _reason_ to be here. I'm Sasuke's _wife_, and you're nothing more than a prostitute, spreading your legs for him whenever he demands it. He even _paid_ for you," she shot back quickly, cutting and actually making a good point for once (believe me, it was a pretty rare occurrence), but I pushed back the twinge of hurt that attempted to stab at my conscience, the twisted facts behind her words more keen and affecting than I liked.

It didn't matter what she, and everyone else, for that matter, thought about this… I knew the truth, and that was all that mattered.

"I think you might be a little confused, Karin… see, I'm the one serving a purpose here. I'm here to carry the man's children, and that leaves you with… oh, wait… spreading your legs whenever he demands it. Wouldn't that make _you_ the prostitute?" I countered, as content with my definition of my and Sasuke's relationship as I could possibly be, and had the pleasure of seeing Karin's face turn the color of a ripe tomato, spluttering in her confused rage.

If only she knew how to shut her mouth…

"I… no, I… you're the one in the concubine's room!" she shouted at me, taking me completely by surprise, and I could do nothing more than blink at her, unfamiliar with the term she was using.

"The _what_?" I asked, not really liking where this was going, and Karin grinned maliciously, clearly confident that she had an advantage over me at long last.

"Oh, didn't you know? Traditionally, rooms like this one were added next to the master bedroom of noble's houses so that the lord of the house's concubines cold be close at hand for when he wanted them. They were never allowed into the lord's room; he would come here to fuck them and then just leave and go back to his wife. Sound familiar?" she cooed at me venomously, and even though that did sound all too similar to our current housing arrangements, I was hopeful of Sasuke being a better man than that.

Wasn't that what he was trying to prove with all of this, rebuilding the compound, having children, mending his broken bridges with his old team?

Like I said, I was hopeful, but I also didn't know if I knew Sasuke well enough anymore to guess at his motives for placing me here (whether as innocent as he claimed or as nefarious as Karin insinuated), so I merely shrugged off the foreboding feeling in the pit of my stomach and yawned widely and pointedly before cocking my head, perceptibly thinking over something for the benefit of her visually stimulated mind.

"You know, come to think of it, that _does_ sound familiar. Isn't that how the old nobility used to treat their wives?" I recalled facetiously, raising an eyebrow at her incitingly while attempting to look innocent of my provocation, but Karin heard the mocking in my voice and growled in frustration, throwing her hands up in the air before slamming my door closed and stomping away.

I shook my head over her behavior, far too used to her antics to be too worried about waking up with my eyebrows shaved off (like she could sneak up on me…), before plopping back down on the plush covers, closing my eyes, and putting an arm over them, laying my other hand over my abdomen to try to visualize what was going on in there and hoping, to both god and myself, that my interaction with this mentally taxing family would be over soon.

The reality of a tiny pulse of life separate from my own from beneath my fingertips went without my notice as I drifted off to sleep; all I knew as oblivion took me was the satiation of knowing that at least Karin didn't have a bed as cool as mine.

* * *

><p>In the room directly beside the one that Sakura was falling to sleep in, Sasuke clenched his lips together tightly, looking away from the wall that stood between his and Sakura's bedrooms and down to the belt he was threading into his pants, the last part of his ANBU uniform that needed to be donned. He had heard the whole argument, and if he hadn't been so entertained by how easily Karin had been ousted, he would have gone to interrupt.<p>

Sakura needed some rest… she had looked like the walking dead since she had first shown up that morning.

Smirking softly and smoothing glove clad palms over his armor clad chest, Sasuke nodded to his reflection in the mirror and then strode to the small chest of drawers that sat beside the spot where her would lay his futon for the night, opening the top drawer to remove a folded, bent, and dirtied photograph, the same picture he had been looking at only fifteen minutes before sitting innocuously but incriminatingly in his palms.

It had been a revelation, learning that she had kept the stupid picture as well… it had been all he had kept of his old possessions when he had gone into Orochimaru's care. His heart had done summersaults just considering how likely it was that his plan could actually, miraculously work, now that he knew she still carried some part of him with her, despite her claim to feeling nothing for him and wanting nothing to do with him ever again.

Sakura had resisted him on all fronts from the moment that he had put his strategy into action, determination just as fiery and stalwart as his own; he almost came to the point of violence every time he butted heads with her. But he had persisted, reminding himself that this was one of the reasons that he wanted her so badly (being married to a someone with half the personality of a rock was trying at best), and the discovery of her (clearly meant to be secret) copy of their team photograph had given him new heart.

It didn't even matter that she hadn't accepted his apology yet, in wake of his discovery… they had, at the very _least_, nine months ahead of them for that to happen. It grated against his instincts to have to prostrate himself to her in that manner, after being denied the chance to apologize before by her herself for so long (she was very good at avoiding him; she had done it nearly flawlessly for two years), but the second wind he was sailing on, aided by her almost utterance of his first name for the first time in too long, gave him the magnanimity to allow her the time she needed.

He had years of wrongdoing to make up to her before she could start to see how she had never fallen out of love with him, but once she had… oh, once she had, he would make her _grovel_ before her gave her what she really wanted: him.

Once Sakura's resistance had ended, when all of this nonsense with the contract was out of the way, when he had discovered a way to be rid of Karin, he could finally have the woman he had originally wanted as his bride, and everything would be how it had been meant to be, how he had always hoped it would be.

He wouldn't have to worry about not having enough children, either… Sakura had wanted him for so long that she wouldn't be able to get enough of him.

Sasuke grinned rapturously, his already claimed triumph demanding realization as soon as possible, but his smirk quickly faded in wake of the remembrance of what he had just overheard; as long as Karin was under the same roof as Sakura, she was going to be a problem.

Overcome by her jealousy for Sakura's place in his life and worry over losing her stature in society, Karin had been acting like she just had been from the moment that the contract had been finalized, too threatened by the likelihood of him managing to replace her with Sakura to use any room that she had in her head to think straight.

She was just wasting needless frustration… he would have Sakura by the end of all this whether she protested it or not.

Sasuke honestly wouldn't normally bother being concerned with Karin's hapless attempts at staving off the inevitable; Sakura was more than capable of standing up for herself, and didn't need his assistance in effortlessly outsmarting his wife. But making him the demon in this equation was not productive or helpful to him, and the last thing he needed right now was for Sakura to hate him more.

He had to put a stop to her pettiness before any more damage could be done.

Sasuke nodded to himself in resolution, looking over the picture in his hands one last time before sliding it back into the drawer and standing, thereafter pacing out of the room and down the hallway that Karin had stormed through following her sound defeat at the hands of intelligence. It was long past time that Karin learned exactly what she was getting in the middle of, and what would happen if she got in his way.

Sasuke had no patience for anything that would upset his plans at this stage, especially not the unwelcome weight of the person he had been tricked into marrying.

* * *

><p><em>Lol why am I writing a pregnancy fic again?<em>

_Whatever._

_Two days before I planned on having this ready? Hell yeah. I mean, it's also three weeks later than I had hoped for it to take, but… blah. I can't win. So? Tell me what you thought about the further revelation of Sasuke's plans! Is Karin a bitch or what? Naruto had a part in this one, maybe that's a good thing and maybe not. Drop me a line and let me know! Here's to the third update this year, and another coming soon! Thank you for reading, and as always, I hope to see you next time._


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